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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28944309">Child of Mirkwood</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carlandrea/pseuds/Carlandrea'>Carlandrea</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Extremely Pretentious, I did no research, M/M, Sad, Sea-longing, The vibe i'm going for is like, Valinor, and also, but you know what the viewpoint character doesn't know shit about valinor either, through the eyes of a traumatized wood-elf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:27:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,291</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28944309</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carlandrea/pseuds/Carlandrea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Legolas does not find peace beyond the sea</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gimli (Son of Glóin)/Legolas Greenleaf, Legolas Greenleaf &amp; Thranduil</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Child of Mirkwood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Valinor was dazzlingly bright. Legolas saw it first, leagues away, and laughed, slightly hysterically, cold sea-spray in his hair. “Gimli!” he cried “We’ve made it!”<br/>
Gimli smiled, his hand on the wheel. “All I see is the ocean, my friend”.<br/>
“The sea is clear,” said Legolas, “and the shores are white, and beyond that it is a crystal-sharp green”<br/>
“A worthy home for you, my love”<br/>
The ship crested a wave. Legolas shrieked, gripping the sides of the boat, and they were both laughing.	</p><p>	“The gulls on that shore,” said Legolas softly, “sound like gulls, and nothing more”</p>
<hr/><p>“They will not live long,” said Thranduil, kneeling by a sapling clawing her way through a crack in the ruins of Dol Guldur. Legolas sat beside him. “Even now, the shadow lingers here”<br/>
“Is there nothing we can do?” asked Legolas<br/>
“In time it will crumble, and be overrun with trees,” said Thranduil. “We have only to wait”<br/>
“And yet time is something these saplings have not. Others will thrive here, but that is of little comfort to them now.”<br/>
Thranduil sighed. “I wish we could save them, Legolas.”</p>
<hr/><p>Valinor was lush and green, dripping with fruits and flowers. The sun was warm and the sea was cold. Legolas felt faint, like he was staring at the world through tinted glass. He was safe. He would be safe for the rest of his life. He lay on the grass, staring at the blue, blue sky, and he felt hollow and cold.<br/>
“My friend,” said Gimli softly, “are you awake?”<br/>
Legolas nodded. Gimli sat beside him. “Do you wish to celebrate? You are safe, and we are together”<br/>
Legolas finally looked at him. “I am tired, Gimli. I only wish to rest tonight”<br/>
Gimli met his eyes. “Are you well, Legolas? This is not like you”<br/>
“I am tired. Please let me rest.”</p><p>	The sky was blue.</p>
<hr/><p>“Could we replant them?” asked Legolas, “place them somewhere with rich soil? where the air and the forest is not so dark?”<br/>
“They are poisoned,” said Thranduil, “It is in their roots and their leaves. Even elsewhere in the forest, they would not survive. They were foolish to try to grow here- brave, yes, but foolish.”<br/>
Legolas smiled. “They are brave, are they not? To grow in the darkness of Dol Guldur They will be remembered as the first.”<br/>
“The first light in the darkness. We will have to tell their more fortunate successors of their sacrifice”<br/>
“I wish,” said Legolas “that they would live to see Eryn Lasgalen fully healed.”<br/>
“There are many things I wish were different,” said Thranduil.</p>
<hr/><p>The seasons did not change in Valinor. The sun rose and set. Music and laughter drifted through the air, and it felt strange. Gimli and Legolas slept on their ship, as they had no other home yet, and slept on their shared cot.<br/>
The brilliant sun had fallen hours ago, guessed Legolas, and the brilliant stars had risen to take her place. Gimli’s arms were wrapped around him, and his head rested on Legolas’s chest. Gimli was snoring.<br/>
Carefully, Legolas tried to push Gimli off so he could stand up. He had not slept, and he hoped the moon- the same moon that had pierced the trees in Eryn Lasgalen, or at least he hoped it was- would calm him. The ship rocked beneath his feet.<br/>
“Legolas,” said Gimli, as Legolas tried to slide out of bed, “What ails you?”<br/>
“Did I wake you?” asked Legolas, “I did not mean to.”<br/>
Gimli smiled sadly. “You have not slept well. I had hoped that following the call of the sea would heal you”<br/>
“I do not need as much sleep as you,” said Legolas<br/>
“I know how much sleep you need”</p><p>“Please,” said Gimli, “Please, tell me what is wrong.”</p><p>Legolas sat down in the nearby armchair, and pulled a quilt over himself- a gift, he remembered, from Sam Gamgee, lovingly sewn by hand, in honor of the friendship within the Fellowship. “I am sorry,” he said. “I thought I would heal here.”<br/>
“And yet,” said Gimli, “it seems you have not, and I wish you would tell me why”</p><p>“I wanted to plant a garden,” said Legolas, finally, “but it feels wrong to dig in this untouched soil.”<br/>
“I don’t understand”<br/>
“My hands are shaken and bloodstained. I cannot create something in Valinor- I have tried to find a place, a place where we can settle down and live our lives, but- ”</p><p> </p><p>“This land is green, and unchanging, and still.” Legolas continued, “It does not fade, and it does not die. I thought Lothlorien was enchanting, but it is a fading shadow, a reflection in a pond, of the beauty of Valinor, or the-” Legolas paused “I do not know if beauty is the right word”<br/>
Gimli watched him, his eyes old and soft.<br/>
“My garden would die and fade,” said Legolas “At least, I cannot imagine it doing otherwise. I cannot imagine tending a garden that is not frail and almost broken- Gimli, you do not feel at home here- do you? You are even more a stranger than I am”<br/>
“I do not,” said Gimli. “I am here because I love you, and could not let you leave alone. I will not be buried with my people. I will not die with my niece or sister by my side. It is a sacrifice I chose to make.”<br/>
“I did not,” said Legolas suddenly, his voice catching on the words. “It is not a sacrifice I chose. It is not a life I wanted. I was kidnapped by the sea.”<br/>
“Oh,” said Gimli, “Oh, Legolas”<br/>
.“I miss my home,” he said desperately, feeling painfully young. “I miss the dark and fading things. I miss our revels in the face of them. I miss my family.”<br/>
“Legolas” said Gimli, and he climbed out of their bed to take his hand. “Tomorrow, we will plant your garden.”<br/>
“You are the only thing that feels real”</p>
<hr/><p>“Legolas,” said Thranduil, standing by the river, spring flowers in his hair. “Eryn Lasgalen will mourn your absence.”<br/>
“I will miss you,” said Legolas, his eyes stinging with tears- “I will miss you, and our people, and-”<br/>
“I wish you did not have to leave,” said Thranduil.<br/>
“There are many things I wish were different,” said Legolas.<br/>
“My son,” said Thranduil, “My beautiful, laughing, strange-” He choked back a sob. </p><p>“Farewell,” he said, his shaking hand on his son’s cheek, “Child of Mirkwood.”</p>
<hr/><p>“These!” said Legolas, pulling a sapling from her carefully constructed nest in the cargo hold. “There are two others.”<br/>
“Do they live?”  asked Gimli “I fear the dark and the cold of the ship-”<br/>
“The air has done them good,” said Legolas, “and I hope the soil will do better. I had feared them dead, but they are not.”<br/>
Gimli grabbed a pot. “They are cold,”  he said. “Not to the touch, but to the mind”<br/>
“They are,” said Legolas. “Cold and sick and poisoned.”</p><p>	Gimli could only carry one- he needed his other hand for his cane. Legolas carried the other two.<br/>
Legolas kneeled in a bright, jewel-green meadow, and placed the saplings on the rich, dark, earth.<br/>
“Here,” he said. </p><p>	Legolas did not ask Gimli for help- his joints hurt, Gimli had reminded him often enough, and he was far too old for gardening. Legolas cleared away circles of bright grass, and dug through the rich earth. The saplings were so, so small, and their roots clung to the dust they had grown in. </p><p>	Carefully, gently, Legolas brushed it away, and placed them in the soil, and the tiny, dead, frail things crept towards the sun. </p><p>The trees grew, dark and twisted against the blue, blue sky.</p>
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